I wanted to forward a very, in my opinion, valuable piece of information to all friends and relatives of Polish citizens who were in Poland during WWII.

Last year, I was given the name and website/email address of the "International Tracing Service" in Germany. A young German student generously gave me the address upon discovering that I was searching for records of my Polish Family during and immediately after WWII. I also wanted to know if there were records of their time in the work-camps. (the family was all Catholic)

Making the request was extremely easy. Since I knew my family's dates of birth and "general" location of their birth, they were able to find information. IT IS FREE OF CHARGE. (Please note that this sevice provides information of the non-Jewish population.....the Jewish information is now located through yadvashem.org)

......I also located, on my own, the Russian records of my grandfather's capture, and ultimate murder, by the Soviets, in Katyn. (I was able to internet-surf and locate several documents)......

When I completed the on-line forms, I did not expect much in the way of specifics; nor did I expect anything in less than six months. However, to my pleasant surprise, in less than three months, I received a very large packet of information from Germany. (to be precise, 134 pages) It had microfiche copies of practically every document that my father's family filed in order to travel between Poland to Germany to England, and back to Germany, etc.... There were copies of photographs that they had taken for their transportation paperwork, there were letters of requests, and a myriad of other types of papers and documents. Not only did they include my father's family, they ALSO included his sister, HER husband, and their 2 young children's information !!

I was taken aback.

The following is the information and address/website that I used to obtain this information. When I had combined this information with the immigration documentation from Ancestry.com, I am left with a large box full of "history."